Where The Ice Is Thinner
by The Smashfriends
Summary: Another Christmas story written by us. Rika is very depressed on Christmas night and….will someone help her before it's to late?


Where The Ice Is Thinner

By: The Smashfriends.

SF: Warning!! Suggestive subjects coming!! You had been warned, don't complain later.

Terriermon: The SF don't own Digimon.

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She could see her hot breath coming out from her mouth. She shivered yet again and squeezed her hand in her jacket's pockets. But she did not regret going out of her house, she preferred taking the risk of dying out here by the harsh cold that winter brought to Shinjuku before staying at home and spending time with her mother's new boyfriend. That stupid wanna be, he had treated her as if she was his daughter and there was no way she was going to let him do that.

Rika felt her anger rising as she thought of what was going to be of her family; her mother seemed to be serious about this guy, and that meant that she would have to deal with him very often if not "forever" if her mother decided to marry him. If that ever happened, what was she supposed to do? Would she have to run away from home everyday and just go back when everyone were sleeping or…run away definitely? She couldn't find an answer to that and it was in moments like this when she missed Renamon the most. Renamon would have advised her what to do, or she would give her all her support. Renamon would help her to live through this, she would comfort her, she would keep her company and, she laughed a little at this, scare the hell out any of her mother's boyfriends. But life wasn't that easy anymore, at least not for her, not anymore and it only got harder every day, she really didn't know what to do anymore, sometimes she felt just like….the life wasn't worth living…and today it was even worse. For today she realized that her mother could easily forget about her, after all Rika had stood a few minutes near her house, thinking if what she did was right, and that was a first, or it could be because today was Christmas, she didn't really know. Maybe she just stood there hoping her mother would come after her and tell her that everything was going to be fine, that she shouldn't worry about anything, that that man wasn't going to stay…but she did not came after her, her mother had left her alone…

Now Rika felt like crying, but there was no way that she was going to let those annoying tears fall, she swallowed hard trying to lower the hard lump that had formed in her throat. She recalled feeling very happy in the morning, though she didn't let it be known, she was exited, it would be the very first Christmas in a long time that she would spend with her mother, though she didn't had a good relationship with her mother, Rika wanted to spend this holyday with her, all the past years since her father left them, her mother would be anywhere else but with her. The parties hosted by her model partners or anyone who was involved in her mother's work seemed to be more important that spending this day with her own daughter. And she was left alone, for her grandmother always went with Rumiko to "watch over her and stop her from doing something stupid" she said. She never expected that the only reason her mother wanted to spend this day with her was because she wanted to introduce that man to her, and in the end she choose to stay with that man.

Rika stopped her walk and stared at the small lake in front of her, she remembered when all the tamers used to play here along with their Digimon friends, and she felt yet another pang of pain in her chest, again the memory of Renamon gone and the memory that any of the other tamers kept in contact with her, not that she was of any help, after all she was always cold with them, no wonder why they didn't want her around. But she wished they did, at least Takato had tried…until she pushed him away and now she was alone again.

She wondered if anyone would miss her if she was gone. Would anyone even notice? Would they care? Probably not. And with those thoughts she looked at the lake in front of her, that frozen lake. She wondered where were the places were the layer of ice was thinner. She had started to hate the cold and the ice since her encounter with IceDevimon. And it was kind of ironic that she hated the cold when she was cold. She could almost laugh at those thoughts, but she was staring to seriously think about walking around the frozen lake and try to find those places where the ice is thinner.

She had made her choice, she started to take deep breaths, she was Rika Nonaka and she was scared, though she didn't want to admit it, and she wanted to act before her fear got the best of her and she turned away from the lake like a coward, though what she was thinking of doing what could be considered a cowardly act-giving up on her life. But…she was just so tired of everything. She couldn't think of any good reason to "stay" here, at least not anymore anyways. Renamon was gone, her mother was surely getting married again and…she would probably have more kids and they would replace her and they would be like the kids her mother always wanted to have, they would be everything Rika wasn't and her mother would not care for her anymore. Her grandmother…probably she would be sad, but only for a while, Rika wasn't absolutely sure about that, but her grandmother would find comfort in her new grandchildren and she will forget about her. Now, her friends? She had no friends, the tamers, as she had realized before, didn't care about her anymore and they might never had cared. And let's not even talk about her classmates, they hated her and they made it pretty obvious. In conclusion there wasn't anyone that cared about her and there wasn't any reason that could keep her "here", she couldn't be a tamer anymore and going back to just playing cards wasn't something she wanted to do.

For a moment she looked at the sky and wished that there was someone that could come and stop her, not just for doing a "good deed" but because that person cared about her…but her sad reality was that no one came.

A small tear rolled down her check, and she swallowed again, it was getting harder and harder to keep stopping the tears from coming out, and it was getting harder to breath. It was time. She had to do it now before she regrets it and went back to the pain that is her miserable life. She tightened her fist and closed her eyes tightly. It was time…

Takato was walking on the cold streets of Shinjuku. He wanted to go and see Rika, he had got a Christmas present to her, and he was supposed to give it to her tomorrow, at least he had decided that but for a reason he couldn't explain, he felt the need to go and see her tonight. And thought his parents felt quite bothered by this, he went anyway, he knew he would be grounded but he didn't care, he wanted to see Rika and he was going to do just that.

He shivered as the weather got colder, he guessed that in a while it will be snowing, so it would be better if he hurried, so he walked faster almost ran and when he was about to get to Rika's house, he saw someone standing near her house. He couldn't quite see who it was. He slowed down not wanting to scare the person, and he could see better now and saw that it was Rika herself who was standing there but before he could call for her, she started walking towards the opposite direction from him. Being curious about where could she be going in this cold and alone…though he was just doing that, but anyways that was not the point, he had come here to see her, where could be Rika's reason to leave her house and be wandering around in the cold?

Slowly, to not raise any suspicion, he walked slowly after her, at a safe distance to not be detected by her. For a moment he saw her shiver and he felt like going to her and give her his own jacket…though that probably meant he would freeze but he didn't care, as long as she was fine, everything else wouldn't be to important.

It wasn't long before she stopped in front a lake that Takato recognized as the playground zone for the Tamers when the Digimon were still here. He waited not to far from her, he believed that she had come to just admire the scenery, which was lovely in his opinion, and then she would leave to do whatever she had to do, he would wait, he knew she was a loner and it was more likely for her to want to be alone while was here, besides that she could threaten him for this.

Takato waited patiently but he was starting to feel uneasy for some reason, so he just walked towards her.

Rika was about to take one step forward towards the lake when a hand rested on her shoulder and she quickly opened her eyes and turned to look who had interrupted her and, in a way, saved her, and thought she couldn't quite understand why, she felt her heart less pained and heavy. She let a breath she didn't know she was holding as she saw Takato standing there with a goofy smile

"T-Takato, what are you doing here?" Rika said trying her best to hide her surprise and her happiness, though why was she happy? She didn't know.

"Well…I went to your house but I saw you walking towards here, so I followed you" Takato answered with nervousness, he feared her next question or her next actions.

"And…what did you went to my house?" Rika asked very calmly, which made Takato more nervous, he didn't took this as a good sign, but if he only knew the real reason why she acted like this…

"Well…because…I wanted to give you this" and with that said, Takato took out a small box from his pocket and gave it to her and she reluctantly took it.

"What is this?" she said still troubled about what she had been about to do. Now she was wondering if her prayers about having someone that cared for and saved her had come true or it was Takato just been silly.

"Well…it's a Christmas present. Open it…if you want" Takato said, still very nervous but now not only for being in front of her but because she was about to open his present and she could beat him up for giving her that, she could misunderstand it…though he really didn't know why he gave her that…or maybe he did but he was just afraid of admit it to anyone…and even more to her.

Rika just gave him a weird look and open it; she would have gasped if it wasn't because she held herself from showing any emotion at all. It was a locket in the shape of heart, though she didn't meant it, she gave him an angered glare but give him time to explain himself.

"Ahh…ummm…look, open it" Takato said, feeling more fear with the look she was giving him, and when she did and she changed her angered look for one of surprise, he proceeded "See, it's a picture of Renamon cuz I know how much you miss her, I miss Guilmon a lot too. And see this mark here" there, in one half of the locket was Renamon's picture and in the other it was a mark that remained her of her old shirt, the one with the broken heart symbol. "You see, I think your heart…and please don't beat me up for it but…I think your heart healed and now is not broken so…that's why in the outside is fine and this mark here is just like…a scar that was left deep in your heart and you one day will be able to erase it completely and then you will place the picture of another person you care about…so…do you like it? Takato finished his explanation and hoped that Rika had understood his babbling and that she liked the present.

_'If only you knew Takato' Rika thought looking at the locket and then at Takato, she said nothing, she just stared at him._

Takato was starting to think she didn't liked and that she might be offended by it and he was starting to think that he should leave but before he could take action on his thoughts, Rika slowly hugged him.

Rika rested her head on his shoulder and let the tears run down free. Takato was a little shocked at first, after all, not everyday you get the Digimon Queen to hug you and much less to see…or rather ear and feel her cry. So he did the only thing he thought he should do and hugged her back, he did not ask her what was wrong, at least not yet, and he would wait for her to calm down and maybe then he would ask her. Meanwhile, Rika just cried silently on his shoulder.

After a while, she started to feel better and she was looking at the lake. Now that she looked at it again she started to think that, maybe her heart was like that lake right now, it was covered with a layer of ice but in some places that layer was thinner and someone could go through it. Takato had gotten to her, he went through there, where the layer of ice in her heart was thinner, but he didn't freeze as someone would have if it was the lake's layer of ice. But in her case it was the opposite, she felt warmer; she didn't know if Takato felt that way too, but she could only hope he did.

"You want to tell me what's wrong?" he asked softly. Sensing her to be more at peace.

It took a while for her to actually gather the strength to tell him: "My mother took one of her boyfriends tonight…and he tried to play the role of my father…I just couldn't stand it so I left and I came here to…to…be alone" she finished, not wanting to tell him her real reasons to be here, maybe some other day but not now.

There was a moment of silence before Takato asked her something else "Are you feeling better now?"

"Yes, thank you….but I still don't want to go back" Rika said not feeling like moving, she felt just fine where she was, and was kind of glad that he hadn't let her go yet.

"Umm…you want to go to my house? My parents won't mind having you over there, you can spend Christmas with us…or we can stay here a little while more…or, if you want…I can go with you to your house" Takato said with a little hint of hope on his voice. He wanted to be stay with her a little while more…or a lot of time, whatever she preferred.

She said nothing while she thought about what to do. "Let's go to your house" she decided. She didn't want to see her mother and that man yet, and staying here would be nice but it was getting colder and colder. 

Takato let her go and then, feeling like it was a risk, he took her hand in his and started walking. Rika walked close to him and after a while of walking she said: "…Thank you Takato…for everything. You did more than you know for me"

Takato just smiled at her and placed his arm around her feeling with more security on himself, even more because she placed her arm around him too. And together, they walked towards Takato's house in silence….until Rika remembered something…"Hey Takato"

"Yeah Rika" He said with no more worries.

"If you ever tell anyone about that…hug or about me cr…having salty water coming out of my eyes…I'm going to kill you very slowly and painfully. Got it!? Oh and don't get any ideas, don't you dare to try anything funny with me" Rika said with such security and calmness that Takato had no doubt she was dead serious but…

"Hey!! It started to snow!!" Takato said excitedly while with his free hand tried to catch some snowflakes.

"Takato, don't change the subject!!" Rika said with fake anger. Takato grinned at her and scratched the back of his head.

"Of course I won't tell anyone nor do anything 'funny' to you…unless you want me to" He said after a while still grinning and then ran for his life as Rika chased after him.

"You're not getting away goggle-head!!" Rika said chuckling and running not as fast as she could, it would be no fun to catch her pray so fast…she waited until Takato got to his house, and once there he waited for her before going inside.

She stopped running and just walked and before she got to Takato, she looked at the sky and said a small "Thank you"

Then, as she was in front of Takato, he took her hand and smiled reassuringly and she smiled back. She was very thankful not only because she wasn't alone anymore but because someone that cared for her unknowingly stopped her from making the worse mistake of her life…and in that was how she found out that she wasn't alone.

Though the beginning sucked, this was the best Christmas she had had in a long time, and that was another thing she was thankful for, but for what was she more thankful was for having Takato in her life…and she already knew what picture place in that locket.

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SF: That's was all. Hope you'd like it. Leave a review and tell us what you think about it.

Now, about the subject treated in this fic. We, in any way, support suicide. But it is something that happens a lot lately, at least where we live it does. Almost every day you can read in the News Papers that someone took his own life. Most of them are teenagers, one reads their reasons and one would think that those are stupid reasons to take their lives, but, it was obvious they don't see it that way. We get to be so close minded with our own way of thinking that we don't see anything else and we don't want to see anything else. We would like to say more but…let's just leave it at that, ok? If you have a question to make write us to: 

The_smashfriends@yahoo.com

Well, it was kind of a sad fic, but, as you know us, sometimes we can't help but make a little joke or two, so…we have to make that little scene at the end, besides that we needed a little cheer up. By the way, about the rating, we don't really know if it the right one to give so just to be sure, let's leave it at that.

**We wish you all a very happy Christmas, and a happy new year!!**

Terriermon: See ya later!!! And now, for the first time in a very, very, very long time…the SF are letting me say my trade mark phrase: "Don't forget to Momentai!!!"


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